——(POV third person)——

It took Hu Anjing better part of an hour to calm down enough to listen to Li Huang.

"So, why were you exactly bleeding?" Hu Anjing asked Li Huang as she reluctantly separated from him.

"Well, it is like this…" Li Huang started explaining what happened in detail, more to remind himself what he did wrong so that he won't repeat them in the future.

"…In the end, I broke through to the fifth stage of the Meridian formation realm and opened four main meridians on the way." Li Huang said and couldn't hide his happiness. He achieved something that many can only dream about.

Hu Anjing was shocked by this too, this rate of breaking through is unheard of. Well, a Qi with this density is also unheard of but handling this dense Qi is also a talent.

"What? You have broken through four times in half a day? No wonder you were bleeding…" She started talking shocked but finished angrily because Li Huang was too careless. She didn't forget to punch Li Huang to show her displeasure.

"…Come on, it is not like I could do something else. I had to use the Qi somehow…" Li Huang said as he felt wronged. To his credit, he choose the best course of action because he couldn't stop Hu Anjing from meditating and couldn't get rid of that much Qi fast enough so he had to use it like this.

Hu Anjing narrowed her eyes at him for a few seconds.

"…Fair enough." She said at the end as she too knew that this was the best way to handle the situation.

"How about you? How was it for you?" Li Huang asked her as he was really intrigued to know about her gains in this half day meditation session.

Hearing this, Hu Anjing grinned and puffed up her chest with pride.

"Well, I have to tell you that I am only half step away from the intermediate mastery of [Mortal body transcendence formation] and I think I can break through to the next realm right after this trial." She said while grinning and didn't forget to lower her voice when she was saying the formation's name so no one else hears it.

"Great! Now you are unbeatable in the trial!" Li Huang was really happy for her. Also, it was reassuring to have her around as now she was overpowered for this trial.

They talked a bit more and then when it was near one hour mark, they decided to go toward other disciples.

Seeing Li Huang and Hu Anjing coming toward them they stood in attention and cupped their fist.

Li Huang and Hu Anjing also gave them a nod in greeting.

"How are you, senior brother?" as soon as they stopped in front of the group, Lai Xinyue asked Li Huang and didn't give others a chance to ask about it themselves. This also made Jin Fen angry. No, he wasn't angry that he couldn't ask about Li Huang's well-being. He was angry that Lai Xinyue asked about Li Huang's well-being. He cursed under his breath and clenched his fists, as one would expect of him.

Li Huang who could see the worry in his fellow disciples' faces waved his hand dismissively.

"I am fine now. I broke through too fast so that pressured my body a little." Li Huang said to reassure them that he is fine.

Ye Ling who was now at the third stage of the Meridian Formation realm, frowned as she couldn't see what Qi realm Li Huang was at. Although her frown had nothing to do with the topic and was her natural reaction.

"Senior brother, may I ask what stage you are at?" Ye Ling decided to ask him directly so that she can ease her mind.

"Yes, I am now in the fifth stage of the Meridian Formation realm." Li Huang said and everyone was baffled as he was clearly in the first stage of the meridian formation realm just a day ago.

'Is there such heaven-defying cultivation speed?' was what everyone was thinking about.

'There is no way. He must have a shallow foundation as he has broken through too fast.' That was what Jin Fen and Dai Bao thought. This time they were thinking the same thing.

"Senior brother, forgive me for asking again but are you saying you have broken through four stages in half a day?" this time Kong Chin, who found this formation asked. Everyone has improved one stage in their Qi cultivation but Li Huang improving four times as them was just too shocking.

"Yes, that is why I say I was bleeding as I had broken through too fast." Li Huang nodded and said matter-of-factly.

'Bleeding because you broke through stages too fast? Are you still human when you can breakthrough four realms in one go?' everyone had some things to say but thought it was wiser to keep it to themselves and just nodded.

"Anyway, I think it is about time." Li Huang said. It is about time for the old man to show himself.

And the old man didn't disappoint him as he appeared with his hands behind his back as he was looking down at them from where he stood.

"Now that you are well-rested, it is time for the final stage of this formation." The old man said.

"To enter the next stage, go through the portal." The old man said as he pointed his right hand's index finger toward the disciples and rotated his left hand clockwise and created a portal right in front of them.

'I swear this old man loves to show off.' Li Huang thought as he walked inside the portal. Hu Anjing and others followed after him.

…

On the other side of the portal what awaited them was a big room filled with doors that were connected to nothing. These hundreds of doors had different designs but had one thing in common, they were not connected to any structure.

Li Huang and others were confused by this development but the old man came to the rescue.

"This is where we conduct the first part of our final stage." The old man said and everyone understood that this stage also consists of two parts.

"This part is where each of you can find your personal rewards." The old man explained about this test's reward first.

"Close your eyes and you can feel some of these doors calling toward you. It can be one or more." The old man instructed.

"When you felt the callings you have to choose one and open the door to enter its test. Yes, although each reward is calling to you they have their standards so you have to be tested." The old man said as he stroked his beard.

"Now you can start but remember that you can only open a door if it is calling to you, otherwise it won't budge." The fading old man said and faded with his last word.

Looking around him, Li Huang was thinking about what each of his fellow disciples would get, until his vision stopped on Jin Fen.

'What would this guy get?' Li Huang contemplated for a moment. Shaking his head He closed his mind and concentrated to find out if anything is calling to him.